Using her honor for his benefit

When Stockton-reared civil rights activist Dolores Huerta was recently given the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the reaction from the left and the right was predictable.

Ruben Navarette

When Stockton-reared civil rights activist Dolores Huerta was recently given the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the reaction from the left and the right was predictable.

Liberals were proud that a prominent Latina, who co-founded what became the United Farm Workers union with labor leader Cesar Chavez, had received such an honor.

Conservatives were outraged that the honor had gone to someone affiliated with a long list of liberal organizations and causes who once blurted out that "Republicans hate Latinos."

Both emotions were misplaced. The only thing anyone should have felt in response to this event was outrage over the blatant political overtones behind it.

Not that Huerta didn't deserve the medal. The 82-year-old is as qualified for the nation's highest civilian honor as any of this year's recipients.

Huerta and I have had several run-ins in recent years over my public comments about how, in its heyday, the UFW worked hand in hand with U.S. immigration officials to deport illegal immigrant workers that the union saw as a threat - coupled with Huerta's refusal to admit that the union's history is filled with anything other than sunshine and puppy dogs. But this doesn't stop me from offering my congratulations.

The curious part is that Huerta received the medal from President Barack Obama, about whom she has not always had a kind word and yet with whom she now seems to have a relationship based on mutual hand-washing.

Obama invites Huerta to a state dinner honoring Mexican President Felipe Calderon. Huerta signs a letter of support for administration official Cecilia Munoz when Latino activists were calling for her head in response to her coldhearted remarks about it being inevitable that families would be divided under any immigration system.

Obama and Huerta were not always this cozy. Huerta is a big fan of Bill and Hillary Clinton. And she considers herself one of the nation's leading feminists.

So it was no surprise when, during the 2008 Democratic primaries, she campaigned for Hillary in Latino neighborhoods in the Southwest. But some Democrats were shocked by how viciously Huerta attacked, with words that have come back to haunt her, Clinton's main opponent at the time: Barack Obama.

Huerta told Latino crowds in Texas and California that Clinton's connection to their community went back 35 years to when, as a young political activist, the former first lady spent some time working in the Southwest. By contrast, Huerta said, Obama was a "Johnny Come Lately" whose relationship with Latinos only went back about six months.

Not good enough, she said. She quoted a saying in Spanish that, translated, means: "They only come see the cactus when it has fruit." Then, referring to his 11th-hour courting of Latino voters, she said about Obama, "That's what this man is doing."

During the awards ceremony, Obama joked that Huerta didn't mind when he "stole" the UFW's famous slogan, "Sí se puede" (Yes we can).

Actually, looking back on the 2008 campaign, it sounds like she did.

"Now they're copying our slogan," she told a reporter then. "But you cannot build a relationship no más con una palabra - just with one word."

Ouch. That's harsh. But it's also true. It turns out that Huerta is an excellent judge of character, and she got Obama's number early on. After the Illinois senator secured the nomination, and other Latino leaders got in line behind him, Huerta fell silent. But she was right to be skeptical - even if she is all smiles now.

Obama seems indifferent toward Latinos. He doesn't know how to relate to them, and he doesn't appear to have any interest in learning. He lies to them about his broken promise to make immigration reform a top priority and about how his administration has broken up hundreds of thousands of immigrant families by deporting mothers and fathers. He only rediscovered the community as of late, probably after his advisers told him that he needed to shore up Latino support.

Could it be that this is what's behind the decision of the White House to award the Presidential Medal of Freedom to a Latina with such a high profile?

You bet it is. For Huerta, it's the honor of a lifetime. But for Obama, this is just another election-year gimmick to convince Latinos that he's in their corner.

And thanks to his administration's exuberant deportation policies, there are now less of us to convince.

Contact columnist Ruben Navarette at ruben@rubennavaratte.com.

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